Physical downlink shared channel (pdsch) repetition transmission for reliable communications

ABSTRACT

Technology for user equipment (UE) operable for physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) repetition communication is disclosed. The UE can comprise one or more processors configured to: decode information from a first transmission from a PDSCH and information from one or more repeated transmissions from the PDSCH; decode a repetition parameter value; and determine whether a first transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state for the first transmission and one or more additional TCI states for the one or more repeated transmission are different based on the repetition parameter value.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. Non-Provisional patentapplication Ser. No. 17/263,857, filed Jan. 27, 2021, entitled “PHYSICALDOWNLINK SHARED CHANNEL (PDSCH) REPETITION TRANSMISSION FOR RELIABLECOMMUNICATIONS,” which is a national stage entry of Patent CooperationTreaty application number PCT/US2019/045353, filed Aug. 6, 2019,entitled “PHYSICAL DOWNLINK SHARED CHANNEL (PDSCH) REPETITIONTRANSMISSION FOR RELIABLE COMMUNICATIONS,” which claims priory from U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 62/715,420, filed Aug. 7, 2018,entitled “ENHANCED PHYSICAL DOWNLINK SHARED CHANNEL REPETITIONTRANSMISSION,” each of which is incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety and for all purposes.

BACKGROUND

Wireless systems typically include multiple User Equipment (UE) devicescommunicatively coupled to one or more Base Stations (BS). The one ormore BSs may be Long Term Evolved (LTE) evolved NodeBs (eNB) or newradio (NR) NodeBs (gNB), next generation node Bs (gNB), or new radiobase stations (NR BS) that can be communicatively coupled to one or moreUEs by a Third-Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) network.

Next generation wireless communication systems are expected to be aunified network/system that is targeted to meet vastly different andsometimes conflicting performance dimensions and services. New RadioAccess Technology (RAT) is expected to support a broad range of usecases including Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), Massive Machine TypeCommunication (mMTC), Mission Critical Machine Type Communication(uMTC), and similar service types operating in frequency ranges up to100 GHz.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Features and advantages of the disclosure will be apparent from thedetailed description which follows, taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, which together illustrate, by way of example,features of the disclosure; and, wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a Third-Generation PartnershipProject (3GPP) New Radio (NR) Release 15 frame structure in accordancewith an example;

FIG. 2 a depicts functionality of physical downlink shared channel(PDSCH) configuration in accordance with an example;

FIG. 2 b depicts functionality of physical downlink shared channel(PDSCH) configuration in accordance with an example;

FIG. 3 a depicts functionality of quasi-co-location (QCL) in accordancewith an example;

FIG. 3 b depicts functionality of quasi-co-location (QCL) in accordancewith an example;

FIG. 4 depicts functionality of a user equipment (UE) operable forphysical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) repetition communication inaccordance with an example;

FIG. 5 depicts functionality of a new radio node B (gNB) operable forphysical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) repetition communication inaccordance with an example;

FIG. 6 depicts a flowchart of a machine-readable storage medium havinginstructions embodied thereon for physical downlink shared channel(PDSCH) repetition communication in accordance with an example;

FIG. 7 illustrates an example architecture of a system of a network inaccordance with an example;

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of a platform or device in accordance withan example;

FIG. 9 illustrates example components of baseband circuitry and radiofront end modules (RFEM) in accordance with an example;

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating components able to readinstructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium inaccordance with an example; and

FIG. 11 illustrates a diagram of a wireless device (e.g., UE) inaccordance with an example.

Reference will now be made to the exemplary embodiments illustrated, andspecific language will be used herein to describe the same. It willnevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of thetechnology is thereby intended.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Before the present technology is disclosed and described, it is to beunderstood that this technology is not limited to the particularstructures, process actions, or materials disclosed herein, but isextended to equivalents thereof as would be recognized by thoseordinarily skilled in the relevant arts. It should also be understoodthat terminology employed herein is used for the purpose of describingparticular examples only and is not intended to be limiting. The samereference numerals in different drawings represent the same element.Numbers provided in flow charts and processes are provided for clarityin illustrating actions and operations and do not necessarily indicate aparticular order or sequence.

EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

An initial overview of technology embodiments is provided below and thenspecific technology embodiments are described in further detail later.This initial summary is intended to aid readers in understanding thetechnology more quickly but is not intended to identify key features oressential features of the technology nor is it intended to limit thescope of the claimed subject matter.

To support enhanced reliability focusing on 1 millisecond (ms) latencybound in Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) long term evolution(LTE) Release 15, various techniques are to be standardized. Forphysical control format indicator channel (PCFICH) reliability,semi-static configuration of PCFICH duration to avoid PCFICH reliabilityimpacting the overall DL reliability may be developed in 3GPP radioaccess network (RAN) 2. And blind/hybrid automatic repeater request(HARQ)-less repetition for scheduled downlink shared channel (DL-SCH)operation can be developed in 3GPP RAN1. Specifically, by virtue oflegacy physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and physical uplinkcontrol channel (PUCCH) formats (if applicable), any potential downlinkcontrol information (DCI) modifications may be limited to support ofblind/HARQ-less repetition.

The PDCCH can indicate the number of physical downlink shared channel(PDSCH) transmissions associated with the PDCCH. PDSCH transmissions canbe soft combined after a PDCCH is successfully received. The number oftransmissions, k, can be the number of PDSCH transmissions associatedwith the PDCCH starting with the current transmission time interval(TTI). The UE can discard any PDSCH assignment for a shorted TTI (sTTI)or a TTI in a serving cell with cyclic redundancy code (CRC) scrambledwith cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI), if PDSCH by meansof blind repetition can be received in that STTI or TTI in the sameserving cell. For PDSCH repetition, a field of 2 bits can be amended tothe PDSCH related DCI. Blind/HARQ-less PDSCH repetitions can be enabledby radio resource control (RRC) configuration. For slot or sub-slotPDSCH repetition, the rate-matching around short PDCCH (SPDCCH)resources for the PDSCH transmissions within a repetition window canfollow the rate-matching around SPDCCH resources for the first PDSCHtransmission of the repetition window. For transmission mode 10 (TM10)blind/HARQ-less PDSCH repetition, the UE can assume the same PDSCHresource element (RE) Mapping and Quasi-Co-Location Indicator (PQI) tobe applied to all PDSCH repetitions.

The PDSCH repetitions associated with a single DL assignment can assumethe same resource block (RB) allocation. For slot or sub-slot PDSCHrepetition and demodulation reference signal (DMRS) based PDSCH, the UEmay assume that the same precoder is kept between PDSCH repetitions. Fortime division duplexing (TDD), the UE may not assume coherent DMRSchannel estimation across an uplink (UL)/downlink (DL) switching point.The UE can be configured for coherent channel estimation filtering. Forsub-slot PDSCH repetitions DMRS sharing may not be supported forblind/HARQ-less PDSCH repetition with k>1, i.e. DMRS can be present ineach sub-slot. For slot or sub-slot PDSCH, with k>1, the maximumtransmission rank can be 2 for reception of PDSCH. For PDSCHrepetitions, different redundancy versions (RV) can be used in differentPDSCH transmissions within the repetition window. For PDSCH repetitionsand RV cycling which can be configured by higher layer signaling andselected between {0, 0, 0, 0} or {0, 2, 3, 1}, the RV field in the DCIscheduling a repetition sequence of k PDSCH transmissions can identifythe starting RV in the cycling sequence that can be used for the firsttransmission of PDSCH within the repetition window. For HARQ forrepeated PDSCH transmissions, the UE can report HARQ feedback with thetiming given by the last PDSCH repetition.

In one example, different transmission beams can be applied fordifferent repetitions, which can provide another degree of freedom forthe network to determine the repetition between omni-directional orbeamformed transmission. The flexibility of enabling the network tochoose either omni-directional repetition or precoder cycling basedrepetition based on the actual scenario can allow the network tomaximize the spectrum and energy efficiency.

In one example, a user equipment (UE) can be operable for physicaldownlink shared channel (PDSCH) repetition communication. The UE cancomprise one or more processors configured to: decode information from afirst transmission from a PDSCH and information from one or morerepeated transmissions from the PDSCH; decode a repetition parametervalue; and determine whether a first transmission configurationindicator (TCI) state for the first transmission and one or moreadditional TCI states for the one or more repeated transmission aredifferent based on the repetition parameter value.

FIG. 1 provides an example of a 3GPP NR Release 15 frame structure. Inparticular, FIG. 1 illustrates a downlink radio frame structure. In theexample, a radio frame 100 of a signal used to transmit the data can beconfigured to have a duration, T_(f), of 10 milliseconds (ms). Eachradio frame can be segmented or divided into ten subframes 110 i thatare each 1 ms long. Each subframe can be further subdivided into one ormultiple slots 120 a, 120 i, and 120 x, each with a duration, T_(slot),of 1/μms, where μ=1 for 15 kHz subcarrier spacing, μ=2 for 30 kHz, μ=4for 60 kHz, μ=8 for 120 kHz, and μ=16 for 240 kHz. Each slot can includea physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and/or a physical downlinkshared channel (PDSCH).

Each slot for a component carrier (CC) used by the node and the wirelessdevice can include multiple resource blocks (RBs) 130 a, 130 b, 130 i,130 m, and 130 n based on the CC frequency bandwidth. The CC can have acarrier frequency having a bandwidth. Each slot of the CC can includedownlink control information (DCI) found in the PDCCH. The PDCCH istransmitted in control channel resource set (CORESET) which can includeone, two or three Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM)symbols and multiple RBs.

Each RB (physical RB or PRB) can include 12 subcarriers (on thefrequency axis) and 14 orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM)symbols (on the time axis) per slot. The RB can use 14 OFDM symbols if ashort or normal cyclic prefix is employed. The RB can use 12 OFDMsymbols if an extended cyclic prefix is used. The resource block can bemapped to 168 resource elements (REs) using short or normal cyclicprefixing, or the resource block can be mapped to 144 REs (not shown)using extended cyclic prefixing. The RE can be a unit of one OFDM symbol142 by one subcarrier (i.e., 15 kHz, 30 kHz, 60 kHz, 120 kHz, and 240kHz) 146.

Each RE 140 i can transmit two bits 150 a and 150 b of information inthe case of quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) modulation. Other typesof modulation may be used, such as 16 quadrature amplitude modulation(QAM) or 64 QAM to transmit a greater number of bits in each RE, orbi-phase shift keying (BPSK) modulation to transmit a lesser number ofbits (a single bit) in each RE. The RB can be configured for a downlinktransmission from the NR BS to the UE, or the RB can be configured foran uplink transmission from the UE to the NR BS.

This example of the 3GPP NR Release 15 frame structure provides examplesof the way in which data is transmitted, or the transmission mode. Theexample is not intended to be limiting. Many of the Release 15 featureswill evolve and change in the 5G frame structures included in 3GPP LTERelease 15, MulteFire Release 1.1, and beyond. In such a system, thedesign constraint can be on co-existence with multiple 5G numerologiesin the same carrier due to the coexistence of different networkservices, such as eMBB (enhanced Mobile Broadband), mMTC (massiveMachine Type Communications or massive IoT) and URLLC (Ultra ReliableLow Latency Communications or Critical Communications). The carrier in a5G system can be above or below 6 GHz. In one embodiment, each networkservice can have a different numerology.

Configurable PDSCH Spatial Repetition Transmission

In one example, legacy PDSCH repetition transmission may supportomni-directional transmission wherein each repetition transmission inthe repetition window uses the same transmit direction so that channelestimation obtained from the demodulation reference signal (DMRS) ineach repetition can be filtered to enhance the estimation performance.However, in some situations, different repetitions with differenttransmit directions can be transmitted to achieve spatial diversity andenhance reception reliability. When the PDCCH schedules a PDSCHrepetition transmission, the UE can be informed whether the channelestimates obtained from the DMRS in different repetitions can beaveraged. In one example, if the omni-directional repetition is used,the UE can be informed that the DMRS in different repetitions can sharethe same quasi-collocation (QCL) property; otherwise, the DMRS indifferent repetitions may not be assumed to be QCLed.

Method-1: RRC Signaling Based Semi-Static Configuration for SpatialRepetition

In one example, radio resource control (RRC) configuration for PDSCHrepetition can include an RRC parameter (e.g.,DMRS-PdschRepetitionConfig) which can signal whether the DMRS indifferent repetitions can be averaged or not. In another example, theDMRS-PdschRepetitionConfigValues parameter can include, as depicted inFIG. 2 a :

DMRS-PdschRepetionConfigValues := {  “QCLed DMRS in all repetitions”, “Non-QCLed DMRS in repetitions”  }

In another example, the DMRS-PdschRepetitonConfigValues parameter caninclude the following two examples: (a) the DMRS in all PDSCHrepetitions can be assumed to be QCLed so that the channel estimates indifferent repetitions can be averaged or filtered, or (b) the DMRS indifferent repetitions may not be assumed to be QCLed so that the channelestimates may not be averaged.

In another example, the parameter DMRS-PdschRepetitionConfig can beconfigured with one of the values defined in the parameterDMRS-PdschRepetitonConfigValues and can signal whether the DMRS indifferent repetitions can be averaged or not.

In another example, to facilitate the UE receiving (RX) spatial filtersettings for PDSCH repetitions using different QCL assumption values,the parameter DMRS-PdschRepetitionConfigValues can include, as depictedin FIG. 2 b :

DMRS-PdschRepetionConfigValues := {  “QCLed DMRS in all repetitions”, “{QCL#1, QCL#2, ..., QCL#K}”  }

In another example, the DMRS in different repetitions can be averagedwhen the DMRS in all repetitions can be assumed to be QCLed. In anotherexample, when the DMRS in different repetitions may not be assumed to beQCLed, K QCL assumption values can be configured to the parameterDMRS-PdschRepetitionConfig so that precoder cycling corresponding to theconfigured QCL values can be performed for different repetitions,wherein K can be a positive integer. If the parameterDMRS-PdschRepetitionConfig is configured with the set of QCL values forprecoder cycling, the QCL value signaled in the DCI can indicate the QCLassumption for the first transmission (i.e. the start value of QCLcycling) and subsequent QCL values for the following repetitions can beobtained from the configured set of QCL value cycling.

Method-2: DCI Based Dynamic Signaling for Spatial Repetition

In one example, DCI scheduling the PDSCH repetition can explicitlysignal the QCL values for each PDSCH repetition to provide a flexibleconfiguration for spatial setting of each PDSCH repetition at the costof an increase of DCI payload. In another example, the DCI fields can beadded to signal the QCL values of each repetition when PDSCH repetitionis scheduled, as depicted in FIG. 3 a :

DCI QCL fields for repetitions: = {  QCL#1,  QCL#2,  ...  QCL#K  }

In another example, each repetition can include a corresponding QCLvalue signaled by a respective DCI field to enable the hybrid spatialrepetition scheme. In another example, among a total of 4 repetitions,the first two repetitions can be transmitted from a set of QCLed DMRSports and the last two repetitions can be transmitted from another setof QCLed DMRS ports to enable a trade-off among the channel estimationenhancement from DMRS repetition and the spatial diversity from thedifferent QCLed DMRS ports.

Method-3: Combined DCI and Higher Layer Signaling for Spatial Repetition

In another example, when a set of QCL or transmission configurationindicators (TCI) states have been configured for PDSCH configuration byRRC signaling, a subset of these configured QCL or TCI states can beactivated by medium access control (MAC) signaling dynamically. ForPDSCH without repetition, the DCI can signal a selected QCL/TCI stateamong the activated QCL/TCI states for the spatial transmission of thescheduled PDSCH.

In another example, for PDSCH repetition signaling, the MAC controlelements (CE) for activating the QCL/TCI states can include one morefields defining the QCL/TCI state cycling for PDSCH repetition. Inanother example, if the MAC CE can activate at most 8 QCL/TCI statesamong a maximum of 64 configured QCL/TCI states and at most Krepetitions are supported, a new field in MAC CE can be added toindicate selected QCL/TCI states for K repetitions, wherein K can be apositive integer. The payload of the MAC CE can have the followingformat, as depicted in FIG. 3 b :

 MAC CE for QCL/TCI state activation/deactivation := {   Bit map of 64bits for QCL/TCL activation/deactivation   K sets of 3 bits: each set of3 bits defines the index of activated QCL/TCI state assuming at most 8activated QCL/TCI states.   }

In another example, the QCL/TCI states and the set of QCL/TCI statecycling can be dynamically activated or deactivated based on the channelstate information (CSI) or beam management reports of the UE.

In another example, when DCI schedules a PDSCH repetition, the QCL fieldor TCI field can signal one of the activated QCL states or TCI states toindicate the omni-directional repetition to be applied or to signal avalue corresponding to the activated QCL/TCI cycling based repetition.In another example, if at most 8 QCL states or TCI states and at mostone QCL state cycling or TCI state cycling can be activated, then 9 QCLstates or TCI states may be signaled in DCI. In another example, 4 bitscan be configured in DCI for the respective signaling.

Another example provides functionality 400 of a UE operable for physicaldownlink shared channel (PDSCH) repetition communication, as shown inFIG. 4 . The UE can comprise one or more processors. The one or moreprocessors can be configured to decode, at the UE, information from afirst transmission from a PDSCH and information from one or morerepeated transmissions from the PDSCH, as in block 410. The one or moreprocessors can be configured to decode, at the UE, a repetitionparameter value, as in block 420. The one or more processors can beconfigured to determine, at the UE, whether a first transmissionconfiguration indicator (TCI) state for the first transmission and oneor more additional TCI states for the one or more repeated transmissionare different based on the repetition parameter value, as in block 430.In addition, the UE can comprise a memory interface configured to storethe repetition parameter value in a memory.

Another example provides functionality 500 of a new radio node B (gNB)operable for physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) repetitioncommunication, as shown in FIG. 5 . The gNB can comprise one or moreprocessors. The one or more processors can be configured to encode, atthe gNB, information on a first transmission on a PDSCH and encode theinformation on one or more repeated transmissions on the PDSCH, as inblock 510. The one or more processors can be configured to select, atthe gNB, a repetition parameter value that indicates whether a firsttransmission configuration indicator (TCI) state for the firsttransmission and one or more additional TCI states for the one or morerepeated transmissions are different, as in block 520. The one or moreprocessors can be configured to encode, at the gNB, the repetitionparameter value, as in block 530. In addition, the gNB can comprise amemory interface configured to send the repetition parameter value to amemory.

Another example provides at least one machine readable storage mediumhaving instructions 600 embodied thereon for physical downlink sharedchannel (PDSCH) repetition communication, as shown in FIG. 6 . Theinstructions can be executed on a machine, where the instructions areincluded on at least one computer readable medium or one non-transitorymachine readable storage medium. The instructions when executed perform:decoding, at the UE, information from a first transmission from a PDSCHand information from one or more repeated transmissions from the PDSCH,as in block 610. The instructions when executed perform: decoding, atthe UE, a repetition parameter value, as in block 620. The instructionswhen executed perform: determining, at the UE, whether a firsttransmission configuration indicator (TCI) state for the firsttransmission and one or more additional TCI states for the one or morerepeated transmission are different based on the repetition parametervalue, as in block 630.

While examples have been provided in which a gNB has been specified,they are not intended to be limiting. An evolved node B (eNB) can beused in place of a next generation node B (gNB), a new radio node B(gNB), or a new radio base station (NR BS). Accordingly, unlessotherwise stated, any example herein in which a gNB has been disclosed,can similarly be disclosed with the use of eNB or new radio base station(NR BS).

FIG. 7 illustrates an example architecture of a system 700 of a network,in accordance with various embodiments. The following description isprovided for an example system 700 that operates in conjunction with theLTE system standards and 5G or NR system standards as provided by 3GPPtechnical specifications. However, the example embodiments are notlimited in this regard and the described embodiments may apply to othernetworks that benefit from the principles described herein, such asfuture 3GPP systems (e.g., Sixth Generation (6G)) systems, IEEE 802.16protocols (e.g., WMAN, WiMAX, etc.), or the like.

As shown by FIG. 7 , the system 700 includes UE 701 a and UE 701 b(collectively referred to as “UEs 701” or “UE 701”). In this example,UEs 701 are illustrated as smartphones (e.g., handheld touchscreenmobile computing devices connectable to one or more cellular networks),but may also comprise any mobile or non-mobile computing device, such asconsumer electronics devices, cellular phones, smartphones, featurephones, tablet computers, wearable computer devices, personal digitalassistants (PDAs), pagers, wireless handsets, desktop computers, laptopcomputers, in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), in-car entertainment (ICE)devices, an Instrument Cluster (IC), head-up display (HUD) devices,onboard diagnostic (OBD) devices, dashtop mobile equipment (DME), mobiledata terminals (MDTs), Electronic Engine Management System (EEMS),electronic/engine control units (ECUs), electronic/engine controlmodules (ECMs), embedded systems, microcontrollers, control modules,engine management systems (EMS), networked or “smart” appliances, MTCdevices, M2M, IoT devices, and/or the like.

In some embodiments, any of the UEs 701 may be IoT UEs, which maycomprise a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applicationsutilizing short-lived UE connections. An IoT UE can utilize technologiessuch as M2M or MTC for exchanging data with an MTC server or device viaa PLMN, ProSe or D2D communication, sensor networks, or IoT networks.The M2M or MTC exchange of data may be a machine-initiated exchange ofdata. An IoT network describes interconnecting IoT UEs, which mayinclude uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices (within theInternet infrastructure), with short-lived connections. The IoT UEs mayexecute background applications (e.g., keep-alive messages, statusupdates, etc.) to facilitate the connections of the IoT network.

The UEs 701 may be configured to connect, for example, communicativelycouple, with a RAN 710. In embodiments, the RAN 710 may be an NG RAN ora 5G RAN, an E-UTRAN, or a legacy RAN, such as a UTRAN or GERAN. As usedherein, the term “NG RAN” or the like may refer to a RAN 710 thatoperates in an NR or 5G system 700, and the term “E-UTRAN” or the likemay refer to a RAN 710 that operates in an LTE or 4G system 700. The UEs701 utilize connections (or channels) 703 and 704, respectively, each ofwhich comprises a physical communications interface or layer (discussedin further detail below).

In this example, the connections 703 and 704 are illustrated as an airinterface to enable communicative coupling, and can be consistent withcellular communications protocols, such as a GSM protocol, a CDMAnetwork protocol, a PTT protocol, a POC protocol, a UMTS protocol, a3GPP LTE protocol, a 5G protocol, a NR protocol, and/or any of the othercommunications protocols discussed herein. In embodiments, the UEs 701may directly exchange communication data via a ProSe interface 705. TheProSe interface 705 may alternatively be referred to as a SL interface705 and may comprise one or more logical channels, including but notlimited to a PSCCH, a PSSCH, a PSDCH, and a PSBCH.

The UE 701 b is shown to be configured to access an AP 706 (alsoreferred to as “WLAN node 706,” “WLAN 706,” “WLAN Termination 706,” “WT706” or the like) via connection 707. The connection 707 can comprise alocal wireless connection, such as a connection consistent with any IEEE802.11 protocol, wherein the AP 706 would comprise a wireless fidelity(Wi-Fi®) router. In this example, the AP 706 is shown to be connected tothe Internet without connecting to the core network of the wirelesssystem (described in further detail below). In various embodiments, theUE 701 b, RAN 710, and AP 706 may be configured to utilize LWA operationand/or LWIP operation. The LWA operation may involve the UE 701 b in RRCCONNECTED being configured by a RAN node 711 a-b to utilize radioresources of LTE and WLAN. LWIP operation may involve the UE 701 b usingWLAN radio resources (e.g., connection 707) via IPsec protocol tunnelingto authenticate and encrypt packets (e.g., IP packets) sent over theconnection 707. IPsec tunneling may include encapsulating the entiretyof original IP packets and adding a new packet header, therebyprotecting the original header of the IP packets.

The RAN 710 can include one or more AN nodes or RAN nodes 711 a and 711b (collectively referred to as “RAN nodes 711” or “RAN node 711”) thatenable the connections 703 and 704. As used herein, the terms “accessnode,” “access point,” or the like may describe equipment that providesthe radio baseband functions for data and/or voice connectivity betweena network and one or more users. These access nodes can be referred toas BS, gNBs, RAN nodes, eNBs, NodeBs, RSUs, TRxPs or TRPs, and so forth,and can comprise ground stations (e.g., terrestrial access points) orsatellite stations providing coverage within a geographic area (e.g., acell). As used herein, the term “NG RAN node” or the like may refer to aRAN node 711 that operates in an NR or 5G system 700 (for example, agNB), and the term “E-UTRAN node” or the like may refer to a RAN node711 that operates in an LTE or 4G system 700 (e.g., an eNB). Accordingto various embodiments, the RAN nodes 711 may be implemented as one ormore of a dedicated physical device such as a macrocell base station,and/or a low power (LP) base station for providing femtocells, picocellsor other like cells having smaller coverage areas, smaller usercapacity, or higher bandwidth compared to macrocells.

In some embodiments, all or parts of the RAN nodes 711 may beimplemented as one or more software entities running on server computersas part of a virtual network, which may be referred to as a CRAN and/ora virtual baseband unit pool (vBBUP). In these embodiments, the CRAN orvBBUP may implement a RAN function split, such as a PDCP split whereinRRC and PDCP layers are operated by the CRAN/vBBUP and other L2 protocolentities are operated by individual RAN nodes 711; a MAC/PHY splitwherein RRC, PDCP, RLC, and MAC layers are operated by the CRAN/vBBUPand the PHY layer is operated by individual RAN nodes 711; or a “lowerPHY” split wherein RRC, PDCP, RLC, MAC layers and upper portions of thePHY layer are operated by the CRAN/vBBUP and lower portions of the PHYlayer are operated by individual RAN nodes 711. This virtualizedframework allows the freed-up processor cores of the RAN nodes 711 toperform other virtualized applications. In some implementations, anindividual RAN node 711 may represent individual gNB-DUs that areconnected to a gNB-CU via individual F1 interfaces (not shown by FIG. 7). In these implementations, the gNB-DUs may include one or more remoteradio heads or RFEMs, and the gNB-CU may be operated by a server that islocated in the RAN 710 (not shown) or by a server pool in a similarmanner as the CRAN/vBBUP. Additionally or alternatively, one or more ofthe RAN nodes 711 may be next generation eNBs (ng-eNBs), which are RANnodes that provide E-UTRA user plane and control plane protocolterminations toward the UEs 701, and are connected to a 5GC via an NGinterface (discussed infra).

In V2X scenarios one or more of the RAN nodes 711 may be or act as RSUs.The term “Road Side Unit” or “RSU” may refer to any transportationinfrastructure entity used for V2X communications. An RSU may beimplemented in or by a suitable RAN node or a stationary (or relativelystationary) UE, where an RSU implemented in or by a UE may be referredto as a “UE-type RSU,” an RSU implemented in or by an eNB may bereferred to as an “eNB-type RSU,” an RSU implemented in or by a gNB maybe referred to as a “gNB-type RSU,” and the like. In one example, an RSUis a computing device coupled with radio frequency circuitry located ona roadside that provides connectivity support to passing vehicle UEs 701(vUEs 701). The RSU may also include internal data storage circuitry tostore intersection map geometry, traffic statistics, media, as well asapplications/software to sense and control ongoing vehicular andpedestrian traffic. The RSU may operate on the 5.9 GHz Direct ShortRange Communications (DSRC) band to provide very low latencycommunications required for high speed events, such as crash avoidance,traffic warnings, and the like. Additionally or alternatively, the RSUmay operate on the cellular V2X band to provide the aforementioned lowlatency communications, as well as other cellular communicationsservices. Additionally or alternatively, the RSU may operate as a Wi-Fihotspot (2.4 GHz band) and/or provide connectivity to one or morecellular networks to provide uplink and downlink communications. Thecomputing device(s) and some or all of the radiofrequency circuitry ofthe RSU may be packaged in a weatherproof enclosure suitable for outdoorinstallation, and may include a network interface controller to providea wired connection (e.g., Ethernet) to a traffic signal controllerand/or a backhaul network.

Any of the RAN nodes 711 can terminate the air interface protocol andcan be the first point of contact for the UEs 701. In some embodiments,any of the RAN nodes 711 can fulfill various logical functions for theRAN 710 including, but not limited to, radio network controller (RNC)functions such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamicradio resource management and data packet scheduling, and mobilitymanagement.

In embodiments, the UEs 701 can be configured to communicate using OFDMcommunication signals with each other or with any of the RAN nodes 711over a multicarrier communication channel in accordance with variouscommunication techniques, such as, but not limited to, an OFDMAcommunication technique (e.g., for downlink communications) or a SC-FDMAcommunication technique (e.g., for uplink and ProSe or sidelinkcommunications), although the scope of the embodiments is not limited inthis respect. The OFDM signals can comprise a plurality of orthogonalsubcarriers.

In some embodiments, a downlink resource grid can be used for downlinktransmissions from any of the RAN nodes 711 to the UEs 701, while uplinktransmissions can utilize similar techniques. The grid can be atime-frequency grid, called a resource grid or time-frequency resourcegrid, which is the physical resource in the downlink in each slot. Sucha time-frequency plane representation is a common practice for OFDMsystems, which makes it intuitive for radio resource allocation. Eachcolumn and each row of the resource grid corresponds to one OFDM symboland one OFDM subcarrier, respectively. The duration of the resource gridin the time domain corresponds to one slot in a radio frame. Thesmallest time-frequency unit in a resource grid is denoted as a resourceelement. Each resource grid comprises a number of resource blocks, whichdescribe the mapping of certain physical channels to resource elements.Each resource block comprises a collection of resource elements; in thefrequency domain, this may represent the smallest quantity of resourcesthat currently can be allocated. There are several different physicaldownlink channels that are conveyed using such resource blocks.

According to various embodiments, the UEs 701 and the RAN nodes 711communicate data (for example, transmit and receive) data over alicensed medium (also referred to as the “licensed spectrum” and/or the“licensed band”) and an unlicensed shared medium (also referred to asthe “unlicensed spectrum” and/or the “unlicensed band”). The licensedspectrum may include channels that operate in the frequency range ofapproximately 400 MHz to approximately 3.8 GHz, whereas the unlicensedspectrum may include the 5 GHz band.

To operate in the unlicensed spectrum, the UEs 701 and the RAN nodes 711may operate using LAA, eLAA, and/or feLAA mechanisms. In theseimplementations, the UEs 701 and the RAN nodes 711 may perform one ormore known medium-sensing operations and/or carrier-sensing operationsin order to determine whether one or more channels in the unlicensedspectrum is unavailable or otherwise occupied prior to transmitting inthe unlicensed spectrum. The medium/carrier sensing operations may beperformed according to a listen-before-talk (LBT) protocol.

LBT is a mechanism whereby equipment (for example, UEs 701 RAN nodes711, etc.) senses a medium (for example, a channel or carrier frequency)and transmits when the medium is sensed to be idle (or when a specificchannel in the medium is sensed to be unoccupied). The medium sensingoperation may include CCA, which utilizes at least ED to determine thepresence or absence of other signals on a channel in order to determineif a channel is occupied or clear. This LBT mechanism allowscellular/LAA networks to coexist with incumbent systems in theunlicensed spectrum and with other LAA networks. ED may include sensingRF energy across an intended transmission band for a period of time andcomparing the sensed RF energy to a predefined or configured threshold.

Typically, the incumbent systems in the 5 GHz band are WLANs based onIEEE 802.11 technologies. WLAN employs a contention-based channel accessmechanism, called CSMA/CA. Here, when a WLAN node (e.g., a mobilestation (MS) such as UE 701, AP 706, or the like) intends to transmit,the WLAN node may first perform CCA before transmission. Additionally, abackoff mechanism is used to avoid collisions in situations where morethan one WLAN node senses the channel as idle and transmits at the sametime. The backoff mechanism may be a counter that is drawn randomlywithin the CWS, which is increased exponentially upon the occurrence ofcollision and reset to a minimum value when the transmission succeeds.The LBT mechanism designed for LAA is somewhat similar to the CSMA/CA ofWLAN. In some implementations, the LBT procedure for DL or ULtransmission bursts including PDSCH or PUSCH transmissions,respectively, may have an LAA contention window that is variable inlength between X and Y ECCA slots, where X and Y are minimum and maximumvalues for the CWSs for LAA. In one example, the minimum CWS for an LAAtransmission may be 9 microseconds (μs); however, the size of the CWSand a MCOT (for example, a transmission burst) may be based ongovernmental regulatory requirements.

The LAA mechanisms are built upon CA technologies of LTE-Advancedsystems. In CA, each aggregated carrier is referred to as a CC. A CC mayhave a bandwidth of 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15 or 20 MHz and a maximum of fiveCCs can be aggregated, and therefore, a maximum aggregated bandwidth is100 MHz. In FDD systems, the number of aggregated carriers can bedifferent for DL and UL, where the number of UL CCs is equal to or lowerthan the number of DL component carriers. In some cases, individual CCscan have a different bandwidth than other CCs. In TDD systems, thenumber of CCs as well as the bandwidths of each CC is usually the samefor DL and UL.

CA also comprises individual serving cells to provide individual CCs.The coverage of the serving cells may differ, for example, because CCson different frequency bands will experience different pathloss. Aprimary service cell or PCell may provide a PCC for both UL and DL, andmay handle RRC and NAS related activities. The other serving cells arereferred to as SCells, and each SCell may provide an individual SCC forboth UL and DL. The SCCs may be added and removed as required, whilechanging the PCC may require the UE 701 to undergo a handover. In LAA,eLAA, and feLAA, some or all of the SCells may operate in the unlicensedspectrum (referred to as “LAA SCells”), and the LAA SCells are assistedby a PCell operating in the licensed spectrum. When a UE is configuredwith more than one LAA SCell, the UE may receive UL grants on theconfigured LAA SCells indicating different PUSCH starting positionswithin a same subframe.

The PDSCH carries user data and higher-layer signaling to the UEs 701.The PDCCH carries information about the transport format and resourceallocations related to the PDSCH channel, among other things. It mayalso inform the UEs 701 about the transport format, resource allocation,and HARQ information related to the uplink shared channel. Typically,downlink scheduling (assigning control and shared channel resourceblocks to the UE 701 b within a cell) may be performed at any of the RANnodes 711 based on channel quality information fed back from any of theUEs 701. The downlink resource assignment information may be sent on thePDCCH used for (e.g., assigned to) each of the UEs 701.

The PDCCH uses CCEs to convey the control information. Before beingmapped to resource elements, the PDCCH complex-valued symbols may firstbe organized into quadruplets, which may then be permuted using asub-block interleaver for rate matching. Each PDCCH may be transmittedusing one or more of these CCEs, where each CCE may correspond to ninesets of four physical resource elements known as REGs. Four QuadraturePhase Shift Keying (QPSK) symbols may be mapped to each REG. The PDCCHcan be transmitted using one or more CCEs, depending on the size of theDCI and the channel condition. There can be four or more different PDCCHformats defined in LTE with different numbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregationlevel, L=1, 2, 4, or 8).

Some embodiments may use concepts for resource allocation for controlchannel information that are an extension of the above-describedconcepts. For example, some embodiments may utilize an EPDCCH that usesPDSCH resources for control information transmission. The EPDCCH may betransmitted using one or more ECCEs. Similar to above, each ECCE maycorrespond to nine sets of four physical resource elements known asEREGs. An ECCE may have other numbers of EREGs in some situations.

The RAN nodes 711 may be configured to communicate with one another viainterface 712. In embodiments where the system 700 is an LTE system, theinterface 712 may be an X2 interface 712. The X2 interface may bedefined between two or more RAN nodes 711 (e.g., two or more eNBs andthe like) that connect to EPC 720, and/or between two eNBs connecting toEPC 720. In some implementations, the X2 interface may include an X2user plane interface (X2-U) and an X2 control plane interface (X2-C).The X2-U may provide flow control mechanisms for user data packetstransferred over the X2 interface, and may be used to communicateinformation about the delivery of user data between eNBs. For example,the X2-U may provide specific sequence number information for user datatransferred from a MeNB to an SeNB; information about successful insequence delivery of PDCP PDUs to a UE 701 from an SeNB for user data;information of PDCP PDUs that were not delivered to a UE 701;information about a current minimum desired buffer size at the SeNB fortransmitting to the UE user data; and the like. The X2-C may provideintra-LTE access mobility functionality, including context transfersfrom source to target eNBs, user plane transport control, etc.; loadmanagement functionality; as well as inter-cell interferencecoordination functionality.

In embodiments where the system 700 is a 5G or NR system, the interface712 may be an Xn interface 712. The Xn interface is defined between twoor more RAN nodes 711 (e.g., two or more gNBs and the like) that connectto 5GC 720, between a RAN node 711 (e.g., a gNB) connecting to 5GC 720and an eNB, and/or between two eNBs connecting to 5GC 720. In someimplementations, the Xn interface may include an Xn user plane (Xn-U)interface and an Xn control plane (Xn-C) interface. The Xn-U may providenon-guaranteed delivery of user plane PDUs and support/provide dataforwarding and flow control functionality. The Xn-C may providemanagement and error handling functionality, functionality to manage theXn-C interface; mobility support for UE 701 in a connected mode (e.g.,CM-CONNECTED) including functionality to manage the UE mobility forconnected mode between one or more RAN nodes 711. The mobility supportmay include context transfer from an old (source) serving RAN node 711to new (target) serving RAN node 711; and control of user plane tunnelsbetween old (source) serving RAN node 711 to new (target) serving RANnode 711. A protocol stack of the Xn-U may include a transport networklayer built on Internet Protocol (IP) transport layer, and a GTP-U layeron top of a UDP and/or IP layer(s) to carry user plane PDUs. The Xn-Cprotocol stack may include an application layer signaling protocol(referred to as Xn Application Protocol (Xn-AP)) and a transport networklayer that is built on SCTP. The SCTP may be on top of an IP layer, andmay provide the guaranteed delivery of application layer messages. Inthe transport IP layer, point-to-point transmission is used to deliverthe signaling PDUs. In other implementations, the Xn-U protocol stackand/or the Xn-C protocol stack may be same or similar to the user planeand/or control plane protocol stack(s) shown and described herein.

The RAN 710 is shown to be communicatively coupled to a core network—inthis embodiment, core network (CN) 720. The CN 720 may comprise aplurality of network elements 722, which are configured to offer variousdata and telecommunications services to customers/subscribers (e.g.,users of UEs 701) who are connected to the CN 720 via the RAN 710. Thecomponents of the CN 720 may be implemented in one physical node orseparate physical nodes including components to read and executeinstructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g.,a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium). In some embodiments,NFV may be utilized to virtualize any or all of the above-describednetwork node functions via executable instructions stored in one or morecomputer-readable storage mediums (described in further detail below). Alogical instantiation of the CN 720 may be referred to as a networkslice, and a logical instantiation of a portion of the CN 720 may bereferred to as a network sub-slice. NFV architectures andinfrastructures may be used to virtualize one or more network functions,alternatively performed by proprietary hardware, onto physical resourcescomprising a combination of industry-standard server hardware, storagehardware, or switches. In other words, NFV systems can be used toexecute virtual or reconfigurable implementations of one or more EPCcomponents/functions.

Generally, the application server 730 may be an element offeringapplications that use IP bearer resources with the core network (e.g.,UMTS PS domain, LTE PS data services, etc.). The application server 730can also be configured to support one or more communication services(e.g., VoIP sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, socialnetworking services, etc.) for the UEs 701 via the EPC 720.

In embodiments, the CN 720 may be a 5GC (referred to as “5GC 720” or thelike), and the RAN 710 may be connected with the CN 720 via an NGinterface 713. In embodiments, the NG interface 713 may be split intotwo parts, an NG user plane (NG-U) interface 714, which carries trafficdata between the RAN nodes 711 and a UPF, and the S1 control plane(NG-C) interface 715, which is a signaling interface between the RANnodes 711 and AMFs.

In embodiments, the CN 720 may be a 5G CN (referred to as “5GC 720” orthe like), while in other embodiments, the CN 720 may be an EPC). WhereCN 720 is an EPC (referred to as “EPC 720” or the like), the RAN 710 maybe connected with the CN 720 via an S1 interface 713. In embodiments,the S1 interface 713 may be split into two parts, an S1 user plane(S1-U) interface 714, which carries traffic data between the RAN nodes711 and the S-GW, and the S1-MME interface 715, which is a signalinginterface between the RAN nodes 711 and MMEs.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of a platform 800 (or “device 800”) inaccordance with various embodiments. In embodiments, the computerplatform 800 may be suitable for use as UEs 701, application servers730, and/or any other element/device discussed herein. The platform 800may include any combinations of the components shown in the example. Thecomponents of platform 800 may be implemented as integrated circuits(ICs), portions thereof, discrete electronic devices, or other modules,logic, hardware, software, firmware, or a combination thereof adapted inthe computer platform 800, or as components otherwise incorporatedwithin a chassis of a larger system. The block diagram of FIG. 8 isintended to show a high level view of components of the computerplatform 800. However, some of the components shown may be omitted,additional components may be present, and different arrangement of thecomponents shown may occur in other implementations.

Application circuitry 805 includes circuitry such as, but not limited toone or more processors (or processor cores), cache memory, and one ormore of LDOs, interrupt controllers, serial interfaces such as SPI, I²Cor universal programmable serial interface module, RTC, timer-countersincluding interval and watchdog timers, general purpose I/O, memory cardcontrollers such as SD MMC or similar, USB interfaces, MIPI interfaces,and JTAG test access ports. The processors (or cores) of the applicationcircuitry 805 may be coupled with or may include memory/storage elementsand may be configured to execute instructions stored in thememory/storage to enable various applications or operating systems torun on the platform 800. In some implementations, the memory/storageelements may be on-chip memory circuitry, which may include any suitablevolatile and/or non-volatile memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, EPROM, EEPROM,Flash memory, solid-state memory, and/or any other type of memory devicetechnology, such as those discussed herein.

The processor(s) of application circuitry may include, for example, oneor more processor cores, one or more application processors, one or moreGPUs, one or more RISC processors, one or more ARM processors, one ormore CISC processors, one or more DSP, one or more FPGAs, one or morePLDs, one or more ASICs, one or more microprocessors or controllers, amultithreaded processor, an ultra-low voltage processor, an embeddedprocessor, some other known processing element, or any suitablecombination thereof. In some embodiments, the application circuitry maycomprise, or may be, a special-purpose processor/controller to operateaccording to the various embodiments herein.

As examples, the processor(s) of application circuitry 805 may includean Intel® Architecture Core™ based processor, such as a Quark™, anAtom™, an i3, an i5, an i7, or an MCU-class processor, or another suchprocessor available from Intel® Corporation, Santa Clara, Calif. Theprocessors of the application circuitry 805 may also be one or more ofAdvanced Micro Devices (AMD) Ryzen® processor(s) or AcceleratedProcessing Units (APUs); A5-A9 processor(s) from Apple® Inc.,Snapdragon™ processor(s) from Qualcomm® Technologies, Inc., TexasInstruments, Inc.® Open Multimedia Applications Platform (OMAP)™processor(s); a MIPS-based design from MIPS Technologies, Inc. such asMIPS Warrior M-class, Warrior I-class, and Warrior P-class processors;an ARM-based design licensed from ARM Holdings, Ltd., such as the ARMCortex-A, Cortex-R, and Cortex-M family of processors; or the like. Insome implementations, the application circuitry 805 may be a part of asystem on a chip (SoC) in which the application circuitry 805 and othercomponents are formed into a single integrated circuit, or a singlepackage, such as the Edison™ or Galileo™ SoC boards from Intel®Corporation.

Additionally or alternatively, application circuitry 805 may includecircuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more a field-programmabledevices)FPDs(such as FPGAs and the like; programmable logicdevices)PLDs(such as complex PLDs)CPLDs(,high-capacity PLDs (HCPLDs),and the like; ASICs such as structured ASICs and the like; programmableSoCs (PSoCs); and the like. In such embodiments, the circuitry ofapplication circuitry 805 may comprise logic blocks or logic fabric, andother interconnected resources that may be programmed to perform variousfunctions, such as the procedures, methods, functions, etc. of thevarious embodiments discussed herein. In such embodiments, the circuitryof application circuitry 805 may include memory cells (e.g., erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, static memory(e.g., static random access memory (SRAM), anti-fuses, etc.)) used tostore logic blocks, logic fabric, data, etc. in look-up tables (LUTs)and the like.

The baseband circuitry 810 may be implemented, for example, as asolder-down substrate including one or more integrated circuits, asingle packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board or amulti-chip module containing two or more integrated circuits. Thevarious hardware electronic elements of baseband circuitry 810 arediscussed infra with regard to FIG. 9 .

The RFEMs 815 may comprise a millimeter wave (mmWave) RFEM and one ormore sub-mmWave radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs). In someimplementations, the one or more sub-mmWave RFICs may be physicallyseparated from the mmWave RFEM. The RFICs may include connections to oneor more antennas or antenna arrays (see e.g., antenna array 911 of FIG.9 infra), and the RFEM may be connected to multiple antennas. Inalternative implementations, both mmWave and sub-mmWave radio functionsmay be implemented in the same physical RFEM 815, which incorporatesboth mmWave antennas and sub-mmWave.

The memory circuitry 820 may include any number and type of memorydevices used to provide for a given amount of system memory. Asexamples, the memory circuitry 820 may include one or more of volatilememory including random access memory (RAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM) and/orsynchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM), and nonvolatile memory (NVM) includinghigh-speed electrically erasable memory (commonly referred to as Flashmemory), phase change random access memory (PRAM), magnetoresistiverandom access memory (MRAM), etc. The memory circuitry 820 may bedeveloped in accordance with a Joint Electron Devices EngineeringCouncil (JEDEC) low power double data rate (LPDDR)-based design, such asLPDDR2, LPDDR3, LPDDR4, or the like. Memory circuitry 820 may beimplemented as one or more of solder down packaged integrated circuits,single die package (SDP), dual die package (DDP) or quad die package(Q17P), socketed memory modules, dual inline memory modules (DIMMs)including microDIMMs or MiniDEVIMs, and/or soldered onto a motherboardvia a ball grid array (BGA). In low power implementations, the memorycircuitry 820 may be on-die memory or registers associated with theapplication circuitry 805. To provide for persistent storage ofinformation such as data, applications, operating systems and so forth,memory circuitry 820 may include one or more mass storage devices, whichmay include, inter alia, a solid state disk drive (SSDD), hard diskdrive (HDD), a micro HDD, resistance change memories, phase changememories, holographic memories, or chemical memories, among others. Forexample, the computer platform 800 may incorporate the three-dimensional(3D) cross-point (XPOINT) memories from Intel® and Micron®.

Removable memory circuitry 823 may include devices, circuitry,enclosures/housings, ports or receptacles, etc. used to couple portabledata storage devices with the platform 800. These portable data storagedevices may be used for mass storage purposes, and may include, forexample, flash memory cards (e.g., Secure Digital (SD) cards, microSDcards, xD picture cards, and the like), and USB flash drives, opticaldiscs, external HDDs, and the like.

The platform 800 may also include interface circuitry (not shown) thatis used to connect external devices with the platform 800. The externaldevices connected to the platform 800 via the interface circuitryinclude sensor circuitry 821 and electro-mechanical components (EMCs)822, as well as removable memory devices coupled to removable memorycircuitry 823.

The sensor circuitry 821 include devices, modules, or subsystems whosepurpose is to detect events or changes in its environment and send theinformation (sensor data) about the detected events to some other adevice, module, subsystem, etc. Examples of such sensors include, interalia, inertia measurement units (IMUs) comprising accelerometers,gyroscopes, and/or magnetometers; microelectromechanical systems (MEMS)or nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) comprising 3-axisaccelerometers, 3-axis gyroscopes, and/or magnetometers; level sensors;flow sensors; temperature sensors (e.g., thermistors); pressure sensors;barometric pressure sensors; gravimeters; altimeters; image capturedevices (e.g., cameras or lensless apertures); light detection andranging (LiDAR) sensors; proximity sensors (e.g., infrared radiationdetector and the like), depth sensors, ambient light sensors, ultrasonictransceivers; microphones or other like audio capture devices; etc.

EMCs 822 include devices, modules, or subsystems whose purpose is toenable platform 800 to change its state, position, and/or orientation,or move or control a mechanism or (sub)system. Additionally, EMCs 822may be configured to generate and send messages/signalling to othercomponents of the platform 800 to indicate a current state of the EMCs822. Examples of the EMCs 822 include one or more power switches, relaysincluding electromechanical relays (EMRs) and/or solid state relays(SSRs), actuators (e.g., valve actuators, etc.), an audible soundgenerator, a visual warning device, motors (e.g., DC motors, steppermotors, etc.), wheels, thrusters, propellers, claws, clamps, hooks,and/or other like electro-mechanical components. In embodiments,platform 800 is configured to operate one or more EMCs 822 based on oneor more captured events and/or instructions or control signals receivedfrom a service provider and/or various clients.

In some implementations, the interface circuitry may connect theplatform 800 with positioning circuitry 845. The positioning circuitry845 includes circuitry to receive and decode signalstransmitted/broadcasted by a positioning network of a GNSS. Examples ofnavigation satellite constellations (or GNSS) include United States'GPS, Russia's GLONASS, the European Union's Galileo system, China'sBeiDou Navigation Satellite System, a regional navigation system or GNSSaugmentation system (e.g., NAVIC), Japan's QZSS, France's DORIS, etc.),or the like. The positioning circuitry 845 comprises various hardwareelements (e.g., including hardware devices such as switches, filters,amplifiers, antenna elements, and the like to facilitate OTAcommunications) to communicate with components of a positioning network,such as navigation satellite constellation nodes. In some embodiments,the positioning circuitry 845 may include a Micro-PNT IC that uses amaster timing clock to perform position tracking/estimation without GNSSassistance. The positioning circuitry 845 may also be part of, orinteract with, the baseband circuitry and/or RFEMs 815 to communicatewith the nodes and components of the positioning network. Thepositioning circuitry 845 may also provide position data and/or timedata to the application circuitry 805, which may use the data tosynchronize operations with various infrastructure (e.g., radio basestations), for turn-by-turn navigation applications, or the like

In some implementations, the interface circuitry may connect theplatform 800 with Near-Field Communication (NFC) circuitry 840. NFCcircuitry 840 is configured to provide contactless, short-rangecommunications based on radio frequency identification (RFID) standards,wherein magnetic field induction is used to enable communication betweenNFC circuitry 840 and NFC-enabled devices external to the platform 800(e.g., an “NFC touchpoint”). NFC circuitry 840 comprises an NFCcontroller coupled with an antenna element and a processor coupled withthe NFC controller. The NFC controller may be a chip/IC providing NFCfunctionalities to the NFC circuitry 840 by executing NFC controllerfirmware and an NFC stack. The NFC stack may be executed by theprocessor to control the NFC controller, and the NFC controller firmwaremay be executed by the NFC controller to control the antenna element toemit short-range RF signals. The RF signals may power a passive NFC tag(e.g., a microchip embedded in a sticker or wristband) to transmitstored data to the NFC circuitry 840, or initiate data transfer betweenthe NFC circuitry 840 and another active NFC device (e.g., a smartphoneor an NFC-enabled POS terminal) that is proximate to the platform 800.

The driver circuitry 846 may include software and hardware elements thatoperate to control particular devices that are embedded in the platform800, attached to the platform 800, or otherwise communicatively coupledwith the platform 800. The driver circuitry 846 may include individualdrivers allowing other components of the platform 800 to interact withor control various input/output (I/O) devices that may be presentwithin, or connected to, the platform 800. For example, driver circuitry846 may include a display driver to control and allow access to adisplay device, a touchscreen driver to control and allow access to atouchscreen interface of the platform 800, sensor drivers to obtainsensor readings of sensor circuitry 821 and control and allow access tosensor circuitry 821, EMC drivers to obtain actuator positions of theEMCs 822 and/or control and allow access to the EMCs 822, a cameradriver to control and allow access to an embedded image capture device,audio drivers to control and allow access to one or more audio devices.

The power management integrated circuitry (PMIC) 825 (also referred toas “power management circuitry 825”) may manage power provided tovarious components of the platform 800. In particular, with respect tothe baseband circuitry 810, the PMIC 825 may control power-sourceselection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-to-DC conversion.The PMIC 825 may often be included when the platform 800 is capable ofbeing powered by a battery 830, for example, when the device is includedin a UE 701.

In some embodiments, the PMIC 825 may control, or otherwise be part of,various power saving mechanisms of the platform 800. For example, if theplatform 800 is in an RRC Connected state, where it is still connectedto the RAN node as it expects to receive traffic shortly, then it mayenter a state known as Discontinuous Reception Mode (DRX) after a periodof inactivity. During this state, the platform 800 may power down forbrief intervals of time and thus save power. If there is no data trafficactivity for an extended period of time, then the platform 800 maytransition off to an RRC Idle state, where it disconnects from thenetwork and does not perform operations such as channel qualityfeedback, handover, etc. The platform 800 goes into a very low powerstate and it performs paging where again it periodically wakes up tolisten to the network and then powers down again. The platform 800 maynot receive data in this state; in order to receive data, it musttransition back to RRC Connected state. An additional power saving modemay allow a device to be unavailable to the network for periods longerthan a paging interval (ranging from seconds to a few hours). Duringthis time, the device is totally unreachable to the network and maypower down completely. Any data sent during this time incurs a largedelay and it is assumed the delay is acceptable.

A battery 830 may power the platform 800, although in some examples theplatform 800 may be mounted deployed in a fixed location, and may have apower supply coupled to an electrical grid. The battery 830 may be alithium ion battery, a metal-air battery, such as a zinc-air battery, analuminum-air battery, a lithium-air battery, and the like. In someimplementations, such as in V2X applications, the battery 830 may be atypical lead-acid automotive battery.

In some implementations, the battery 830 may be a “smart battery,” whichincludes or is coupled with a Battery Management System (BMS) or batterymonitoring integrated circuitry. The BMS may be included in the platform800 to track the state of charge (SoCh) of the battery 830. The BMS maybe used to monitor other parameters of the battery 830 to providefailure predictions, such as the state of health (SoH) and the state offunction (SoF) of the battery 830. The BMS may communicate theinformation of the battery 830 to the application circuitry 805 or othercomponents of the platform 800. The BMS may also include ananalog-to-digital (ADC) convertor that allows the application circuitry805 to directly monitor the voltage of the battery 830 or the currentflow from the battery 830. The battery parameters may be used todetermine actions that the platform 800 may perform, such astransmission frequency, network operation, sensing frequency, and thelike.

A power block, or other power supply coupled to an electrical grid maybe coupled with the BMS to charge the battery 830. In some examples, thepower block may be replaced with a wireless power receiver to obtain thepower wirelessly, for example, through a loop antenna in the computerplatform 800. In these examples, a wireless battery charging circuit maybe included in the BMS. The specific charging circuits chosen may dependon the size of the battery 830, and thus, the current required. Thecharging may be performed using the Airfuel standard promulgated by theAirfuel Alliance, the Qi wireless charging standard promulgated by theWireless Power Consortium, or the Rezence charging standard promulgatedby the Alliance for Wireless Power, among others.

User interface circuitry 850 includes various input/output (I/O) devicespresent within, or connected to, the platform 800, and includes one ormore user interfaces designed to enable user interaction with theplatform 800 and/or peripheral component interfaces designed to enableperipheral component interaction with the platform 800. The userinterface circuitry 850 includes input device circuitry and outputdevice circuitry. Input device circuitry includes any physical orvirtual means for accepting an input including, inter alia, one or morephysical or virtual buttons (e.g., a reset button), a physical keyboard,keypad, mouse, touchpad, touchscreen, microphones, scanner, headset,and/or the like. The output device circuitry includes any physical orvirtual means for showing information or otherwise conveyinginformation, such as sensor readings, actuator position(s), or otherlike information. Output device circuitry may include any number and/orcombinations of audio or visual display, including, inter alia, one ormore simple visual outputs/indicators (e.g., binary status indicators(e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs)) and multi-character visual outputs,or more complex outputs such as display devices or touchscreens (e.g.,Liquid Chrystal Displays (LCD), LED displays, quantum dot displays,projectors, etc.), with the output of characters, graphics, multimediaobjects, and the like being generated or produced from the operation ofthe platform 800. The output device circuitry may also include speakersor other audio emitting devices, printer(s), and/or the like. In someembodiments, the sensor circuitry 821 may be used as the input devicecircuitry (e.g., an image capture device, motion capture device, or thelike) and one or more EMCs may be used as the output device circuitry(e.g., an actuator to provide haptic feedback or the like). In anotherexample, NFC circuitry comprising an NFC controller coupled with anantenna element and a processing device may be included to readelectronic tags and/or connect with another NFC-enabled device.Peripheral component interfaces may include, but are not limited to, anon-volatile memory port, a USB port, an audio jack, a power supplyinterface, etc.

Although not shown, the components of platform 800 may communicate withone another using a suitable bus or interconnect (IX) technology, whichmay include any number of technologies, including ISA, EISA, PCI, PCIx,PCIe, a Time-Trigger Protocol (TTP) system, a FlexRay system, or anynumber of other technologies. The bus/IX may be a proprietary bus/IX,for example, used in a SoC based system. Other bus/IX systems may beincluded, such as an I²C interface, an SPI interface, point-to-pointinterfaces, and a power bus, among others.

FIG. 9 illustrates example components of baseband circuitry 910 andradio front end modules (RFEM) 915 in accordance with variousembodiments. The baseband circuitry 910 corresponds to the basebandcircuitry 810 of FIG. 8 , respectively. The RFEM 915 corresponds to theRFEM 815 of FIG. 8 , respectively. As shown, the RFEMs 915 may includeRadio Frequency (RF) circuitry 906, front-end module (FEM) circuitry908, antenna array 911 coupled together at least as shown.

The baseband circuitry 910 includes circuitry and/or control logicconfigured to carry out various radio/network protocol and radio controlfunctions that enable communication with one or more radio networks viathe RF circuitry 906. The radio control functions may include, but arenot limited to, signal modulation/demodulation, encoding/decoding, radiofrequency shifting, etc. In some embodiments, modulation/demodulationcircuitry of the baseband circuitry 910 may include Fast-FourierTransform (FFT), precoding, or constellation mapping/demappingfunctionality. In some embodiments, encoding/decoding circuitry of thebaseband circuitry 910 may include convolution, tail-biting convolution,turbo, Viterbi, or Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) encoder/decoderfunctionality. Embodiments of modulation/demodulation andencoder/decoder functionality are not limited to these examples and mayinclude other suitable functionality in other embodiments. The basebandcircuitry 910 is configured to process baseband signals received from areceive signal path of the RF circuitry 906 and to generate basebandsignals for a transmit signal path of the RF circuitry 906. The basebandcircuitry 910 is configured to interface with application circuitry 805(see FIG. 8 ) for generation and processing of the baseband signals andfor controlling operations of the RF circuitry 906. The basebandcircuitry 910 may handle various radio control functions.

The aforementioned circuitry and/or control logic of the basebandcircuitry 910 may include one or more single or multi-core processors.For example, the one or more processors may include a 3G basebandprocessor 904A, a 4G/LTE baseband processor 904B, a 5G/NR basebandprocessor 904C, or some other baseband processor(s) 904D for otherexisting generations, generations in development or to be developed inthe future (e.g., sixth generation (6G), etc.). In other embodiments,some or all of the functionality of baseband processors 904A-D may beincluded in modules stored in the memory 904G and executed via a CentralProcessing Unit (CPU) 904E. In other embodiments, some or all of thefunctionality of baseband processors 904A-D may be provided as hardwareaccelerators (e.g., FPGAs, ASICs, etc.) loaded with the appropriate bitstreams or logic blocks stored in respective memory cells. In variousembodiments, the memory 904G may store program code of a real-time OS(RTOS), which when executed by the CPU 904E (or other basebandprocessor), is to cause the CPU 904E (or other baseband processor) tomanage resources of the baseband circuitry 910, schedule tasks, etc.Examples of the RTOS may include Operating System Embedded (OSE)™provided by Enea®, Nucleus RTOS™ provided by Mentor Graphics®, VersatileReal-Time Executive (VRTX) provided by Mentor Graphics®, ThreadX™provided by Express Logic®, FreeRTOS, REX OS provided by Qualcomm®, OKL4provided by Open Kernel (OK) Labs®, or any other suitable RTOS, such asthose discussed herein. In addition, the baseband circuitry 910 includesone or more audio digital signal processor(s) (DSP) 904F. The audioDSP(s) 904F include elements for compression/decompression and echocancellation and may include other suitable processing elements in otherembodiments.

In some embodiments, each of the processors 904A-904E include respectivememory interfaces to send/receive data to/from the memory 904G. Thebaseband circuitry 910 may further include one or more interfaces tocommunicatively couple to other circuitries/devices, such as aninterface to send/receive data to/from memory external to the basebandcircuitry 910; an application circuitry interface to send/receive datato/from the application circuitry 805 of FIG. 9 ); an RF circuitryinterface to send/receive data to/from RF circuitry 906 of FIG. 9 ; awireless hardware connectivity interface to send/receive data to/fromone or more wireless hardware elements (e.g., Near Field Communication(NFC) components, Bluetooth®/Bluetooth® Low Energy components, Wi-Fi®components, and/or the like); and a power management interface tosend/receive power or control signals to/from the PMIC 825.

In alternate embodiments (which may be combined with the above describedembodiments), baseband circuitry 910 comprises one or more digitalbaseband systems, which are coupled with one another via an interconnectsubsystem and to a CPU subsystem, an audio subsystem, and an interfacesubsystem. The digital baseband subsystems may also be coupled to adigital baseband interface and a mixed-signal baseband subsystem viaanother interconnect subsystem. Each of the interconnect subsystems mayinclude a bus system, point-to-point connections, network-on-chip (NOC)structures, and/or some other suitable bus or interconnect technology,such as those discussed herein. The audio subsystem may include DSPcircuitry, buffer memory, program memory, speech processing acceleratorcircuitry, data converter circuitry such as analog-to-digital anddigital-to-analog converter circuitry, analog circuitry including one ormore of amplifiers and filters, and/or other like components. In anaspect of the present disclosure, baseband circuitry 910 may includeprotocol processing circuitry with one or more instances of controlcircuitry (not shown) to provide control functions for the digitalbaseband circuitry and/or radio frequency circuitry (e.g., the RFEMs915).

Although not shown by FIG. 9 , in some embodiments, the basebandcircuitry 910 includes individual processing device(s) to operate one ormore wireless communication protocols (e.g., a “multi-protocol basebandprocessor” or “protocol processing circuitry”) and individual processingdevice(s) to implement PHY layer functions. In these embodiments, thePHY layer functions include the aforementioned radio control functions.In these embodiments, the protocol processing circuitry operates orimplements various protocol layers/entities of one or more wirelesscommunication protocols. In a first example, the protocol processingcircuitry may operate LTE protocol entities and/or 5G/NR protocolentities when the baseband circuitry 910 and/or RF circuitry 906 arepart of mmWave communication circuitry or some other suitable cellularcommunication circuitry. In the first example, the protocol processingcircuitry would operate MAC, RLC, PDCP, SDAP, RRC, and NAS functions. Ina second example, the protocol processing circuitry may operate one ormore IEEE-based protocols when the baseband circuitry 910 and/or RFcircuitry 906 are part of a Wi-Fi communication system. In the secondexample, the protocol processing circuitry would operate Wi-Fi MAC andlogical link control (LLC) functions. The protocol processing circuitrymay include one or more memory structures (e.g., 904G) to store programcode and data for operating the protocol functions, as well as one ormore processing cores to execute the program code and perform variousoperations using the data. The baseband circuitry 910 may also supportradio communications for more than one wireless protocol.

The various hardware elements of the baseband circuitry 910 discussedherein may be implemented, for example, as a solder-down substrateincluding one or more integrated circuits (ICs), a single packaged ICsoldered to a main circuit board or a multi-chip module containing twoor more ICs. In one example, the components of the baseband circuitry910 may be suitably combined in a single chip or chipset, or disposed ona same circuit board. In another example, some or all of the constituentcomponents of the baseband circuitry 910 and RF circuitry 906 may beimplemented together such as, for example, a system on a chip)SoC(orSystem-in-Package)SiP(. In another example, some or all of theconstituent components of the baseband circuitry 910 may be implementedas a separate SoC that is communicatively coupled with and RF circuitry906 (or multiple instances of RF circuitry 906). In yet another example,some or all of the constituent components of the baseband circuitry 910and the application circuitry 805 may be implemented together asindividual SoCs mounted to a same circuit board)e.g. ,a “multi-chippackage”(.

In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 910 may provide forcommunication compatible with one or more radio technologies. Forexample, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 910 may supportcommunication with an E-UTRAN or other WMAN, a WLAN, a WPAN. Embodimentsin which the baseband circuitry 910 is configured to support radiocommunications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to asmulti-mode baseband circuitry.

RF circuitry 906 may enable communication with wireless networks usingmodulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. Invarious embodiments, the RF circuitry 906 may include switches, filters,amplifiers, etc. to facilitate the communication with the wirelessnetwork. RF circuitry 906 may include a receive signal path, which mayinclude circuitry to down-convert RF signals received from the FEMcircuitry 908 and provide baseband signals to the baseband circuitry910. RF circuitry 906 may also include a transmit signal path, which mayinclude circuitry to up-convert baseband signals provided by thebaseband circuitry 910 and provide RF output signals to the FEMcircuitry 908 for transmission.

In some embodiments, the receive signal path of the RF circuitry 906 mayinclude mixer circuitry 906 a, amplifier circuitry 906 b and filtercircuitry 906 c. In some embodiments, the transmit signal path of the RFcircuitry 906 may include filter circuitry 906 c and mixer circuitry 906a. RF circuitry 906 may also include synthesizer circuitry 906 d forsynthesizing a frequency for use by the mixer circuitry 906 a of thereceive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some embodiments,the mixer circuitry 906 a of the receive signal path may be configuredto down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 908 based onthe synthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuitry 906 d. Theamplifier circuitry 906 b may be configured to amplify thedown-converted signals and the filter circuitry 906 c may be a low-passfilter (LPF) or band-pass filter (BPF) configured to remove unwantedsignals from the down-converted signals to generate output basebandsignals. Output baseband signals may be provided to the basebandcircuitry 910 for further processing. In some embodiments, the outputbaseband signals may be zero-frequency baseband signals, although thisis not a requirement. In some embodiments, mixer circuitry 906 a of thereceive signal path may comprise passive mixers, although the scope ofthe embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 906 a of the transmit signalpath may be configured to up-convert input baseband signals based on thesynthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuitry 906 d togenerate RF output signals for the FEM circuitry 908. The basebandsignals may be provided by the baseband circuitry 910 and may befiltered by filter circuitry 906 c.

In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 906 a of the receive signalpath and the mixer circuitry 906 a of the transmit signal path mayinclude two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadraturedownconversion and upconversion, respectively. In some embodiments, themixer circuitry 906 a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry906 a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and maybe arranged for image rejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection). In someembodiments, the mixer circuitry 906 a of the receive signal path andthe mixer circuitry 906 a of the transmit signal path may be arrangedfor direct downconversion and direct upconversion, respectively. In someembodiments, the mixer circuitry 906 a of the receive signal path andthe mixer circuitry 906 a of the transmit signal path may be configuredfor super-heterodyne operation.

In some embodiments, the output baseband signals and the input basebandsignals may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of theembodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternateembodiments, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signalsmay be digital baseband signals. In these alternate embodiments, the RFcircuitry 906 may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) anddigital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry and the baseband circuitry910 may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with the RFcircuitry 906.

In some dual-mode embodiments, a separate radio IC circuitry may beprovided for processing signals for each spectrum, although the scope ofthe embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 906 d may be afractional-N synthesizer or a fractional N/N+1 synthesizer, although thescope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect as other typesof frequency synthesizers may be suitable. For example, synthesizercircuitry 906 d may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequencymultiplier, or a synthesizer comprising a phase-locked loop with afrequency divider.

The synthesizer circuitry 906 d may be configured to synthesize anoutput frequency for use by the mixer circuitry 906 a of the RFcircuitry 906 based on a frequency input and a divider control input. Insome embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 906 d may be a fractionalN/N+1 synthesizer.

In some embodiments, frequency input may be provided by a voltagecontrolled oscillator (VCO), although that is not a requirement. Dividercontrol input may be provided by either the baseband circuitry 910 orthe application circuitry 805 depending on the desired output frequency.In some embodiments, a divider control input (e.g., N) may be determinedfrom a look-up table based on a channel indicated by the applicationcircuitry 805.

Synthesizer circuitry 906 d of the RF circuitry 906 may include adivider, a delay-locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer and a phaseaccumulator. In some embodiments, the divider may be a dual modulusdivider (DMD) and the phase accumulator may be a digital phaseaccumulator (DPA). In some embodiments, the DMD may be configured todivide the input signal by either N or N+1 (e.g., based on a carry out)to provide a fractional division ratio. In some example embodiments, theDLL may include a set of cascaded, tunable, delay elements, a phasedetector, a charge pump and a D-type flip-flop. In these embodiments,the delay elements may be configured to break a VCO period up into Ndequal packets of phase, where Nd is the number of delay elements in thedelay line. In this way, the DLL provides negative feedback to helpensure that the total delay through the delay line is one VCO cycle.

In some embodiments, synthesizer circuitry 906 d may be configured togenerate a carrier frequency as the output frequency, while in otherembodiments, the output frequency may be a multiple of the carrierfrequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrierfrequency) and used in conjunction with quadrature generator and dividercircuitry to generate multiple signals at the carrier frequency withmultiple different phases with respect to each other. In someembodiments, the output frequency may be a LO frequency (fLO). In someembodiments, the RF circuitry 906 may include an IQ/polar converter.

FEM circuitry 908 may include a receive signal path, which may includecircuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from antennaarray 911, amplify the received signals and provide the amplifiedversions of the received signals to the RF circuitry 906 for furtherprocessing. FEM circuitry 908 may also include a transmit signal path,which may include circuitry configured to amplify signals fortransmission provided by the RF circuitry 906 for transmission by one ormore of antenna elements of antenna array 911. In various embodiments,the amplification through the transmit or receive signal paths may bedone solely in the RF circuitry 906, solely in the FEM circuitry 908, orin both the RF circuitry 906 and the FEM circuitry 908.

In some embodiments, the FEM circuitry 908 may include a TX/RX switch toswitch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEMcircuitry 908 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signalpath. The receive signal path of the FEM circuitry 908 may include anLNA to amplify received RF signals and provide the amplified received RFsignals as an output (e.g., to the RF circuitry 906). The transmitsignal path of the FEM circuitry 908 may include a power amplifier (PA)to amplify input RF signals (e.g., provided by RF circuitry 906), andone or more filters to generate RF signals for subsequent transmissionby one or more antenna elements of the antenna array 911.

The antenna array 911 comprises one or more antenna elements, each ofwhich is configured convert electrical signals into radio waves totravel through the air and to convert received radio waves intoelectrical signals. For example, digital baseband signals provided bythe baseband circuitry 910 is converted into analog RF signals (e.g.,modulated waveform) that will be amplified and transmitted via theantenna elements of the antenna array 911 including one or more antennaelements (not shown). The antenna elements may be omnidirectional,direction, or a combination thereof. The antenna elements may be formedin a multitude of arranges as are known and/or discussed herein. Theantenna array 911 may comprise microstrip antennas or printed antennasthat are fabricated on the surface of one or more printed circuitboards. The antenna array 911 may be formed in as a patch of metal foil(e.g., a patch antenna) in a variety of shapes, and may be coupled withthe RF circuitry 906 and/or FEM circuitry 908 using metal transmissionlines or the like.

Processors of the application circuitry 805 and processors of thebaseband circuitry 910 may be used to execute elements of one or moreinstances of a protocol stack. For example, processors of the basebandcircuitry 910, alone or in combination, may be used execute Layer 3,Layer 2, or Layer 1 functionality, while processors of the applicationcircuitry 805 may utilize data (e.g., packet data) received from theselayers and further execute Layer 4 functionality (e.g., TCP and UDPlayers). As referred to herein, Layer 3 may comprise a RRC layer,described in further detail below. As referred to herein, Layer 2 maycomprise a MAC layer, an RLC layer, and a PDCP layer, described infurther detail below. As referred to herein, Layer 1 may comprise a PHYlayer of a UE/RAN node, described in further detail below.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating components, according to someexample embodiments, able to read instructions from a machine-readableor computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readablestorage medium) and perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein. Specifically, FIG. 10 shows a diagrammaticrepresentation of hardware resources 1000 including one or moreprocessors (or processor cores) 1010, one or more memory/storage devices1020, and one or more communication resources 1030, each of which may becommunicatively coupled via a bus 1040. For embodiments where nodevirtualization (e.g., NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor 1002 may beexecuted to provide an execution environment for one or more networkslices/sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources 1000.

The processors 1010 may include, for example, a processor 1012 and aprocessor 1014. The processor(s) 1010 may be, for example, a centralprocessing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction set computing (RISC)processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC) processor, agraphics processing unit (GPU), a DSP such as a baseband processor, anASIC, an FPGA, a radio-frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), anotherprocessor (including those discussed herein), or any suitablecombination thereof.

The memory/storage devices 1020 may include main memory, disk storage,or any suitable combination thereof. The memory/storage devices 1020 mayinclude, but are not limited to, any type of volatile or nonvolatilememory such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random accessmemory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM),electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), Flashmemory, solid-state storage, etc.

The communication resources 1030 may include interconnection or networkinterface components or other suitable devices to communicate with oneor more peripheral devices 1004 or one or more databases 1006 via anetwork 1008. For example, the communication resources 1030 may includewired communication components (e.g., for coupling via USB), cellularcommunication components, NFC components, Bluetooth® (or Bluetooth® LowEnergy) components, Wi-Fi® components, and other communicationcomponents.

Instructions 1050 may comprise software, a program, an application, anapplet, an app, or other executable code for causing at least any of theprocessors 1010 to perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein. The instructions 1050 may reside, completely orpartially, within at least one of the processors 1010 (e.g., within theprocessor's cache memory), the memory/storage devices 1020, or anysuitable combination thereof. Furthermore, any portion of theinstructions 1050 may be transferred to the hardware resources 1000 fromany combination of the peripheral devices 1004 or the databases 1006.Accordingly, the memory of processors 1010, the memory/storage devices1020, the peripheral devices 1004, and the databases 1006 are examplesof computer-readable and machine-readable media.

FIG. 11 provides an example illustration of the wireless device, such asa user equipment (UE), a mobile station (MS), a mobile wireless device,a mobile communication device, a tablet, a handset, or other type ofwireless device. The wireless device can include one or more antennasconfigured to communicate with a node, macro node, low power node (LPN),or, transmission station, such as a base station (BS), an evolved Node B(eNB), a baseband processing unit (BBU), a remote radio head (RRH), aremote radio equipment (RRE), a relay station (RS), a radio equipment(RE), or other type of wireless wide area network (WWAN) access point.The wireless device can be configured to communicate using at least onewireless communication standard such as, but not limited to, 3GPP LTE,WiMAX, High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), Bluetooth, and WiFi. Thewireless device can communicate using separate antennas for eachwireless communication standard or shared antennas for multiple wirelesscommunication standards. The wireless device can communicate in awireless local area network (WLAN), a wireless personal area network(WPAN), and/or a WWAN. The wireless device can also comprise a wirelessmodem. The wireless modem can comprise, for example, a wireless radiotransceiver and baseband circuitry (e.g., a baseband processor). Thewireless modem can, in one example, modulate signals that the wirelessdevice transmits via the one or more antennas and demodulate signalsthat the wireless device receives via the one or more antennas.

FIG. 11 also provides an illustration of a microphone and one or morespeakers that can be used for audio input and output from the wirelessdevice. The display screen can be a liquid crystal display (LCD) screen,or other type of display screen such as an organic light emitting diode(OLED) display. The display screen can be configured as a touch screen.The touch screen can use capacitive, resistive, or another type of touchscreen technology. An application processor and a graphics processor canbe coupled to internal memory to provide processing and displaycapabilities. A non-volatile memory port can also be used to providedata input/output options to a user. The non-volatile memory port canalso be used to expand the memory capabilities of the wireless device. Akeyboard can be integrated with the wireless device or wirelesslyconnected to the wireless device to provide additional user input. Avirtual keyboard can also be provided using the touch screen.

For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components set forth inone or more of the preceding figures may be configured to perform one ormore operations, techniques, processes, and/or methods as set forth inthe example section below. For example, the baseband circuitry asdescribed above in connection with one or more of the preceding figuresmay be configured to operate in accordance with one or more of theexamples set forth below. For another example, circuitry associated witha UE, base station, network element, etc. as described above inconnection with one or more of the preceding figures may be configuredto operate in accordance with one or more of the examples set forthbelow in the example section.

EXAMPLES

The following examples pertain to specific technology embodiments andpoint out specific features, elements, or actions that can be used orotherwise combined in achieving such embodiments.

Example 1 includes an apparatus of a user equipment (UE) operable forphysical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) repetition communication, theapparatus comprising: one or more processors configured to: decode, atthe UE, information from a first transmission from a PDSCH andinformation from one or more repeated transmissions from the PDSCH;decode, at the UE, a repetition parameter value; and determine, at theUE, whether a first transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state forthe first transmission and one or more additional TCI states for the oneor more repeated transmission are different based on the repetitionparameter value; and a memory interface configured to store therepetition parameter value in a memory.

Example 2 includes the apparatus of Example 1, wherein the first TCIstate and the one or more additional TCI states are configured via radioresource control (RRC) signaling.

Example 3 includes the apparatus of Example 1, wherein the one or moreprocessors are further configured to: identify, at the UE, therepetition parameter value, wherein the repetition parameter valueindicates 1, 2, 3, or 4 different TCI states.

Example 4 includes the apparatus of Example 1, wherein the repetitionparameter is a TCI codepoint configured via radio resource control (RRC)signaling.

Example 5 includes the apparatus of Example 1, wherein the one or moreprocessors are further configured to: activate, at the UE, a subset ofTCI states via medium access control (MAC) signaling.

Example 6 includes the apparatus of any of Examples 1 to 5, wherein theone or more processors are further configured to: decode, at the UE, therepetition parameter value from downlink control information (DCI).

Example 7 includes the apparatus of any of Examples 1 to 5, wherein adifference between the first TCI state and the one or more additionalTCI states indicates a difference between a first spatial directionassociated with the first transmission and one or more additionalspatial directions associated with the one or more repeatedtransmissions.

Example 8 includes an apparatus of a new radio node B (gNB) operable forphysical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) repetition communication, theapparatus comprising: one or more processors configured to: encode, atthe gNB, information on a first transmission on a PDSCH and encode theinformation on one or more repeated transmissions on the PDSCH; select,at the gNB, a repetition parameter value that indicates whether a firsttransmission configuration indicator (TCI) state for the firsttransmission and one or more additional TCI states for the one or morerepeated transmissions are different; and encode, at the gNB, therepetition parameter value; and a memory interface configured to sendthe repetition parameter value to a memory.

Example 9 includes the apparatus of Example 8, wherein the one or moreprocessors are further configured to: encode, at the gNB, the first TCIstate and the one or more additional TCI states via radio resourcecontrol (RRC) signaling.

Example 10 includes the apparatus of Example 8, wherein the one or moreprocessors are further configured to: select, at the gNB, the repetitionparameter value, wherein the repetition parameter value indicates 1, 2,3, or 4 different TCI states.

Example 11 includes the apparatus of Example 8, wherein the one or moreprocessors are further configured to: encode, at the gNB, the repetitionparameter via radio resource control (RRC) signaling, wherein therepetition parameter is a TCI codepoint.

Example 12 includes the apparatus of Example 8, wherein the one or moreprocessors are further configured to: activate, at the gNB, a subset ofTCI states via medium access control (MAC) signaling.

Example 13 includes the apparatus of Example 8, wherein the one or moreprocessors are further configured to: encode, at the gNB, the repetitionparameter value via downlink control information (DCI).

Example 14 includes the apparatus of any of Examples 8 to 13, wherein adifference between the first TCI state and the one or more additionalTCI states indicates a difference between a first spatial directionassociated with the first transmission and one or more additionalspatial directions associated with the one or more repeatedtransmissions.

Example 15 includes at least one machine readable storage medium havinginstructions embodied thereon for physical downlink shared channel(PDSCH) repetition communication, the instructions when executed by oneor more processors at a user equipment (UE) perform the following:decoding, at the UE, information from a first transmission from a PDSCHand information from one or more repeated transmissions from the PDSCH;decoding, at the UE, a repetition parameter value; and determining, atthe UE, whether a first transmission configuration indicator (TCI) statefor the first transmission and one or more additional TCI states for theone or more repeated transmission are different based on the repetitionparameter value.

Example 16 includes the at least one machine readable storage medium ofExample 15, wherein the first TCI state and the one or more additionalTCI states are configured via radio resource control (RRC) signaling.

Example 17 includes the at least one machine readable storage medium ofExample 15, further comprising instructions that when executed perform:identifying, at the UE, the repetition parameter value, wherein therepetition parameter value indicates 1, 2, 3, or 4 different TCI states.

Example 18 includes the at least one machine readable storage medium ofExample 15, further comprising instructions that when executed perform:activating, at the UE, a subset of TCI states via medium access control(MAC) signaling.

Example 19 includes the at least one machine readable storage medium ofExample 15, further comprising instructions that when executed perform:decoding, at the UE, the repetition parameter value from downlinkcontrol information (DCI).

Example 20 includes the at least one machine readable storage medium ofany of Examples 15 to 19, wherein a difference between the first TCIstate and the one or more additional TCI states indicates a differencebetween a first spatial direction associated with the first transmissionand one or more additional spatial directions associated with the one ormore repeated transmissions.

Various techniques, or certain aspects or portions thereof, may take theform of program code (i.e., instructions) embodied in tangible media,such as floppy diskettes, compact disc-read-only memory (CD-ROMs), harddrives, non-transitory computer readable storage medium, or any othermachine-readable storage medium wherein, when the program code is loadedinto and executed by a machine, such as a computer, the machine becomesan apparatus for practicing the various techniques. In the case ofprogram code execution on programmable computers, the computing devicemay include a processor, a storage medium readable by the processor(including volatile and non-volatile memory and/or storage elements), atleast one input device, and at least one output device. The volatile andnon-volatile memory and/or storage elements may be a random-accessmemory (RAM), erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM), flashdrive, optical drive, magnetic hard drive, solid state drive, or othermedium for storing electronic data. The node and wireless device mayalso include a transceiver module (i.e., transceiver), a counter module(i.e., counter), a processing module (i.e., processor), and/or a clockmodule (i.e., clock) or timer module (i.e., timer). In one example,selected components of the transceiver module can be located in a cloudradio access network (C-RAN). One or more programs that may implement orutilize the various techniques described herein may use an applicationprogramming interface (API), reusable controls, and the like. Suchprograms may be implemented in a high level procedural or objectoriented programming language to communicate with a computer system.However, the program(s) may be implemented in assembly or machinelanguage, if desired. In any case, the language may be a compiled orinterpreted language, and combined with hardware implementations.

As used herein, the term “circuitry” may refer to, be part of, orinclude an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an electroniccircuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group(,and/or memory)shared,dedicated ,or group (that execute one or more software or firmwareprograms, a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitable hardwarecomponents that provide the described functionality. In someembodiments, the circuitry may be implemented in, or functionsassociated with the circuitry may be implemented by, one or moresoftware or firmware modules. In some embodiments, circuitry may includelogic, at least partially operable in hardware.

It should be understood that many of the functional units described inthis specification have been labeled as modules, in order to moreparticularly emphasize their implementation independence. For example, amodule may be implemented as a hardware circuit comprising customvery-large-scale integration (VLSI) circuits or gate arrays,off-the-shelf semiconductors such as logic chips, transistors, or otherdiscrete components. A module may also be implemented in programmablehardware devices such as field programmable gate arrays, programmablearray logic, programmable logic devices or the like.

Modules may also be implemented in software for execution by varioustypes of processors. An identified module of executable code may, forinstance, comprise one or more physical or logical blocks of computerinstructions, which may, for instance, be organized as an object,procedure, or function. Nevertheless, the executables of an identifiedmodule may not be physically located together, but may comprisedisparate instructions stored in different locations which, when joinedlogically together, comprise the module and achieve the stated purposefor the module.

Indeed, a module of executable code may be a single instruction, or manyinstructions, and may even be distributed over several different codesegments, among different programs, and across several memory devices.Similarly, operational data may be identified and illustrated hereinwithin modules, and may be embodied in any suitable form and organizedwithin any suitable type of data structure. The operational data may becollected as a single data set, or may be distributed over differentlocations including over different storage devices, and may exist, atleast partially, merely as electronic signals on a system or network.The modules may be passive or active, including agents operable toperform desired functions.

Reference throughout this specification to “an example” or “exemplary”means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic describedin connection with the example is included in at least one embodiment ofthe present technology. Thus, appearances of the phrases “in an example”or the word “exemplary” in various places throughout this specificationare not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment.

As used herein, a plurality of items, structural elements, compositionalelements, and/or materials may be presented in a common list forconvenience. However, these lists should be construed as though eachmember of the list is individually identified as a separate and uniquemember. Thus, no individual member of such list should be construed as ade facto equivalent of any other member of the same list solely based ontheir presentation in a common group without indications to thecontrary. In addition, various embodiments and example of the presenttechnology may be referred to herein along with alternatives for thevarious components thereof. It is understood that such embodiments,examples, and alternatives are not to be construed as defactoequivalents of one another, but are to be considered as separate andautonomous representations of the present technology.

Furthermore, the described features, structures, or characteristics maybe combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. In thefollowing description, numerous specific details are provided, such asexamples of layouts, distances, network examples, etc., to provide athorough understanding of embodiments of the technology. One skilled inthe relevant art will recognize, however, that the technology can bepracticed without one or more of the specific details, or with othermethods, components, layouts, etc. In other instances, well-knownstructures, materials, or operations are not shown or described indetail to avoid obscuring aspects of the technology.

While the forgoing examples are illustrative of the principles of thepresent technology in one or more particular applications, it will beapparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that numerousmodifications in form, usage and details of implementation can be madewithout the exercise of inventive faculty, and without departing fromthe principles and concepts of the technology. Accordingly, it is notintended that the technology be limited, except as by the claims setforth below.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus of a user equipment (UE) operablefor physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) repetition communication,the apparatus comprising: one or more processors configured to:activate, at the UE, specified transmission configuration indicator(TCI) states based on medium access control (MAC) signaling received atthe UE; receive, at the UE, in downlink control information (DCI), asingle value configured to indicate a usage of a plurality of thespecified TCI states to receive PDSCH repetitions; determine, at the UE,based on the single value in the DCI, to cycle through the plurality ofthe specified TCI states to receive the PDSCH repetitions; and receive,at the UE, the PDSCH repetitions by cycling through the plurality of thespecified TCI states; and a memory interface configured to store thesingle value in a memory.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein a numberof the plurality of specified TCI states is fewer than eight.
 3. Theapparatus of claim 2, wherein a number of the specified TCI states iseight.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the cycling through theplurality of the specified TCI states comprises a number of TCI statechanges that is equal to a number of the PDSCH repetitions.
 5. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein the single value is indicated in a TCIfield of the DCI.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the single valueis represented in the DCI using four bits.
 7. An apparatus of a basestation operable for physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) repetitioncommunication, the apparatus comprising: one or more processorsconfigured to: signal, to a user equipment (UE), specified transmissionconfiguration indicator (TCI) states via medium access control (MAC)signaling; send, to the UE, a single value in downlink controlinformation (DCI), the single value configured to indicate to the UE tocycle through a plurality of the specified TCI states to receive PDSCHrepetitions; and send, to the UE, the PDSCH repetitions; and a memoryinterface configured to store the single value to a memory.
 8. Theapparatus of claim 7, wherein a number of the plurality of specified TCIstates is fewer than eight.
 9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein anumber of the specified TCI states is eight.
 10. The apparatus of claim7, wherein a number of the PDSCH repetitions is equal to a number of TCIstate changes of the cycle through the plurality of the specified TCIstates.
 11. The apparatus of claim 7, further comprising receiving oneof a beam measurement report and a channel state information (CSI)report from the UE, wherein the single value is sent in the DCI inresponse to the one of the beam measurement report and the CSI report.12. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the single value is represented inthe DCI using four bits.
 13. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein thesingle value is indicated in a TCI field of the DCI.
 14. A method of aUE, comprising: activating, at the UE, specified transmissionconfiguration indicator (TCI) states based on medium access control(MAC) signaling received at the UE; receiving, at the UE, in downlinkcontrol information (DCI), a single value configured to indicate a usageof a plurality of the specified TCI states to receive PDSCH repetitions;determining, at the UE, based on the single value in the DCI, to cyclethrough the plurality of the specified TCI states to receive the PDSCHrepetitions; and receiving, at the UE, the PDSCH repetitions by cyclingthrough the plurality of the specified TCI states.
 15. The method ofclaim 14, wherein a number of the plurality of specified TCI states isfewer than eight.
 16. The method of claim 15, wherein a number of thespecified TCI states is eight.
 17. The method of claim 14, wherein thecycling through the plurality of the specified TCI states comprises anumber of TCI state changes that is equal to a number of the PDSCHrepetitions.
 18. The method of claim 14, wherein the single value isindicated in a TCI field of the DCI.
 19. The method of claim 14, whereinthe single value is represented in the DCI using four bits.